


The Return of James Potter

by phai6688



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Adoption, Love/Hate, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-30 10:17:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11461539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phai6688/pseuds/phai6688
Summary: James Potter comes back from the dead, but he is not the same.*Set before Hogwarts*





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, JK Rowling does. I don't profit from this in anyway, except to hopefully bring joy and excitement to some readers.

James desperately ran with the small burden in his arms. He had no idea where he was going but he was just going AWAY. He gave a short, panting laugh as he ran, his surroundings not making sense to him. Was he at a park? In someone's yard? He laughed again. 

He heard a whimper coming from his arms and he slowed down. Then, he spied a dark alley and with a burst of speed, disappeared into its darkness. Bright green eyes looked at him adoringly but with a touch of fear and uncertainty. 

"Daddy, where are we going?" So quick was the child to call him Daddy when he had only met him a few hours ago. 

"Somewhere safe, my precious son," he kissed the little face desperately, knowing that his period of lucidity was coming to an end. The boy tried to snuggle deeper into his arms and he felt his tiny face force itself into the crook of his neck. 

Where was he going? A roar in his head, drowning all noises. He was so startled that he nearly dropped his son. A woman singing. Where was she? Lily? 

He shut his eyes and forced himself to concentrate. Where was he going? Yes, his eyes snapped open, he knew where he was going. Somewhere safe-ish. He giggled again. Safe-ish, Snape-ish.

With a loud crack, James Potter and his son, Harry Potter, disappeared. 

In front of the gates to Snape's manor, he shushed and jiggled Harry when the boy started to cry. Why was he crying?

"Why are you crying, my boy?" He asked as he paced and wiped away Harry's tears. 

"What was that, Dad? It felt bad!" Harry sobbed into his father's shoulders. 

James stopped, even his mind stopped screaming for a precious second. Of course! Any sane father would know how to warn or coach their young muggle-raised son before they first apparated. And apparating when the father was mentally incapacitated? Not something that a good father would do! James felt tears well up in his own eyes as Harry's tapered off. 

"Daddy, are you sad? Don't be sad, I will be good! Really good!" The boy reached out to touch the tears streaming on his father's cheek. 

James smiled. "I'm not sad, Harry." Liar, liar, robes on fire. "I love you so much !" He kissed the thin little cheek and opened the gate with a flick of his hand. 

He felt Harry flinch but he didn't say anything. Oh right, muggle-raised son. 

James struggled to contain his emotions and the incessant singing, whispers, and noises that made him pause and look around every few steps. He knew they were in his head. They were in his head. Everyone said so! They were in his head. 

He felt a finger trail down his arm and a large chunk of lucidity flew away. 

"Not my son! Stay away from my son!" Again, he was running. Trying to run from the voices and the screams. They wanted Harry! They wanted to take Harry away from him. Just like Dumbledore and Remus and everyone. They hid Harry. Took him away and told James lies. Now, the voices wanted him, too!

James screamed as he banged on the warded entrance to the house. The life bond between him and Snape only extended so far. He didn't have enough of his mind to use magic. 

"Not my son! Stay away from my son!" He crouched over the crying and terrified the boy, trying to protect him. 

He needs protecting from you, James. What kind of father are you? The voice laughed and laughed and laughed. 

He almost didn't notice when a different, harsher and more masculine voice yelled at him. 

"Potter! Potter, what is the meaning of this?"

Snape, it was Snape. He knew who Snape was. 

Wild brown eyes looked at tall, imposing figure in front of him. James stood up on shaky legs and held out his arms with the still crying boy inside them. 

"Snape, you have to help me. They took him away from me--"

"Is that Harry Potter? After Dumbledore told you that he was safer with his relatives?" Snape sneered at the helpless boy who was trying to crawl back into his father's arms. 

"No, he's safer with me! I'm his father! Me!" James screamed as he pulled Harry to his chest. 

"Good. Now be his father somewhere else." James knew that he was failing to make his point across when Snape moved to close the door. What are you doing, James?

"Snape, I invoke the Life Debt." James smirked triumphantly when Snape paused and turned around. 

"That infernal debt! When it was you who--"

"--and you owe Harry for Lily's death." James whispered. 

Snape's already shallow face, paled further into an almost ghostly appearance.

"Yes, I know what you did. How it's your fault that we died!" James noticed that he was rocking Harry in his arms. The boy had a strong grip on his shirt. 

James didn't remember death. One second, he was facing Voldemort and the next, he was facing the rotting corpse of his wife in their cemetery plot. "You owe me anything I ask!"

"What do you want, Potter?" Snape's voice sounded flat and resigned, defeated.

James looked down at the crying little boy. He must be so confused and afraid. He had found his father, only to lose him in a couple of hours. The watery green eyes, though, only stared at him in silent adoration.

"Harry, I'm not well. Your daddy is sick, my precious boy. Very sick." That's what everyone had said when he told them about the voices and screams. "Before I can take care of you, I need to get better. I need to go to a healer, a doctor."

"Daddy, don't leave me! I can help you!" The boy wailed as he wrapped his strong, little arms around James's neck. 

"This man here, Mr. Snape," he nodded towards the tall, dark imposing figure, "will take care of you until Daddy is feeling all better. He'll take good care of you because he loved your Mom, just like how your daddy loved your Mom. He'll take good care of you because he knows your Mom will be sad if he doesn't. Then, when I get better, I'll come back for you, my brave little boy." At this point, James realized that he was rambling and Harry probably didn't understand half of what he said.

He looked at Snape's shocked and bloodless face, will the man faint before James could finish?

A scream from behind startled him. He heard footsteps run towards them. Harry! They wanted Harry and knew that soon he would be safe. Safer. Safe-ish. Snape-ish. James let out a wild giggle before trying hard to contain himself.

"This is what you must do to fulfill your debt," he screamed and stepped forward. He could barely hear himself over the screams behind him. They were coming. Faster and Faster.

Ignoring Harry's clinging hands, he removed the boy from arms and all but threw him into Snape's weak grip.

"They are coming! They want Harry. I'm going to run and led them away. Keep Harry safe, Snape." He kissed the boy's wet cheeks before running away.

The footsteps grew louder in his ears as the running footsteps followed him. They screamed at him to bring the boy back to them, to give him to them. What kind of father are you? You gave your son to your enemy, the female voice whispered in his ear. Startled, James tripped and fell hard on his face. Blood poured down his chin from his broken nose. 

They surrounded him. The darkness and hate and fear and anger and death. The death that clung to him when he had first woken up. Only with Harry and his sweet youthful scent, did the smell of death go away. Now it was all around him. He gagged on the smell as the darkness filled his vision. He screamed.

\-----

Snape couldn't help but jump when he heard James Potter scream bloody murder. He instinctually brought the sobbing child closer to his chest as they listened to his father being torn apart by his own demons. 

Snape regained his common sense and went back inside his manor, closing the door firmly behind him. 

"Daddy! No, Daddy!" The little brat tried to escape his grip, Snape refused to let go.

"He's sick and hurt. He needs help."

"Hush, you little brat. I'm trying to get him some." That shut the child up. He placed the child on the couch, closest to the fireplace before throwing some green powder into the flames from a nearby pouch. 

"Albums Dumbledore. I have Harry Potter."


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter goes back a little to give some background.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!

"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" 

"Avada Kedavra!"

James' eyes flew open. He couldn't see anything, where was he? He opened his eyes to scream but only managed a shallow cough. There wasn't enough air. There was a strange taste in his mouth and in his nose-- something foul and dirty and rotting. The damp air carried the scent.

He tried to sit up but something hard and smooth was on top of him. It was all around him. Trapping him. Like a box. 

Frantically, his trembling hands wandered around his body. He felt a cold and hard object next to him. He gripped it with his hands and pulled as hard as he could. He heard a scattering sound, almost like glass breaking, and was able to pull the object in his lap. 

He tried to turn around but barely had enough room to bring up his knees, yet alone turn. The object in his hand proved useless. It wasn't strong enough to bang against the ceiling of whatever box he was in. 

He swallowed a couple of times before he tried to yell. 

"Help me! Help me, please." James's voice came a little louder than a whisper. 

He wanted to cry, but he needed to get out. There was something that he had to do. He had to look for someone. They were in danger!

He moved his legs and banged them at the edge of the box. Nothing moved. He tried it a couple of more times and something that felt like dust settled on his face. His breathing quickened and he began to bang and cry against the walls of the box. 

"Somebody help me! Where am I?" Nothing he did freed him from his prison. He couldn't see or smell anything around him, except for the darkness and rot. He touched the object on his stomach again, hoping it might be useful, but his fingers landed what felt like something human. 

He couldn't breathe as he examined the object in his hand more closely. He felt five bony little fingers. One finger had a ring. Probably a gold ring with an engraving that said To My Lily, Your James. 

It was quiet in the coffin for several seconds as James Potter took in and understood where he was and who was beside him. Then, all hell broke loose. He threw himself at the smooth, wooden cover, clawing and banging until his fists and nails were bloody. He screamed and screamed as much as much as he could, the stench of death thick in his throat.

James, James, you want to get out of here? A female voice whispered in his ear. 

James stopped moving. "Lily," he whispered. 

James, please stay with me? The voice begged. He could swear he could feel the woman's warm breath in his ear. He turned his head around but he couldn't see anything in the bleak darkness of the coffin. Was Lily actually alive?

"Lily?" He tried again, coughing. "We have to get out of here. We have to..."

They had to do something. What was it? It was something really important to both of them. 

Harry. 

It was as if a spell had been flung at his stomach. Harry, his son. 

"Harry? Are you here?" The thought of his sweet, innocent little baby in this hell of death and decay made James gag, but he had nothing to bring up. 

James, where's our son? Lily's voice asked. 

"Harry!" James's hands again wandered over the coffin. He began to sob when he felt Lily's dead, decaying corpse. His beautiful wife. His whole body shook as he waited to find a little baby body. 

James, where is Harry?

"I don't know! Harry! We got to find Harry, Lily." James's voice could barely whisper. 

The three of us must be together, James. 

James went back to pounding and scratching his way out of the coffin. He needed to find his son! He was choking and gagging on the thick, nasty stench around him. 

I found him, James. He's here with us. Lily said happily beside him. 

"No!" 

There was a large explosion and James Potter knew no more. 

\------

As soon as he felt the cool, sweet air cleanse his lungs, James wanted to open his eyes. He could only open them for a few seconds a time. He experienced, what he later would find out, several hours in a series of snippets: the moonlight bathed headstones, the musky taste of dirt in his mouth as he struggled to lift himself up but collapsed, voices around him screaming and yelling, Albus Dumbledore's dumbfounded expression, and finally, waking up in the hospital wing. 

He knew that he was at Hogswarts because he could recognize the hospital wing with the identical beds, the astringent smell of medicinal potions, and crests of all four houses displayed proudly on a nearby wall. 

James, James.

He sat up, his heart pounding. "Lily, where are you?" He looked around but couldn't see any part of his wife.

James, where is Harry? The feminine voice asked as clear as if a woman was standing right next to him. But he was alone. It sounded like Lily but it also didn't. There was a darkness to her voice that never existed in his wife's.

"James, James Potter?"

James looked up and saw a teary-eyed Albus Dumbledore. "My dear boy, it's a miracle."

He blinked around in confusion. "Albus? What happened?" 

"A miracle, a real miracle, my boy." The rest of his words faded into the background as James lost focus in the conversation. He continued looking around, his eyes glazing over the people around his bed. He absentmindedly noticed that the people around him looked teary-eyed, including Professor McGonagall and Madame Promfrey. Dumbledore kept speaking and looking urgent and apologetic. Sirius' name came up as did Lily's. James noticed all this but it slipped from his mind before it could register and make sense. 

James, where's Harry?

"Where's Harry?" He asked, abruptly and loudly. 

It became quiet around him. James suddenly felt tired but he didn't want to go to sleep. He needed to find Harry. He frantically craned his neck around the people now surrounding his bed. Oh my Merlin, he left Harry back in the box with...

"Lily, where's Harry?" His voice was stronger now, so he was able to raise his voice so much that the people around him flinched.

"James, Lily isn't here. Are you seeing her?" Madame Promfrey asked softly. 

"Where's Harry?" He became more frantic, craning his head around the people moving closer to the hospital bed.

"Calm down, Mr. Potter. We'll get Harry to you as soon as possible. Severus, do you have the potion?" Dumbledore spoke to someone outside of James's eyesight. He looked relieved, then the man spoke to James again. "You're going to take a little rest, James. When you wake up, everything will be sorted out."

Someone with cold, thin hands held his nose closed. When he opened his mouth to breath, a foul tasting potion was thrust between his open lips. He saw Snape's ice cold, black eyes before he went to sleep.

The next time James woke up, he struggled to keep his wits around him. He saw from the tentative and strained smiles on the his visitor's faces that he had failed some type of test. He had to pass this one.

In the hospital wing and in a calm voice, Dumbledore told him that he had been dead. Lily died on that fatal night when Voldemort came to visit them. Harry was alive and well, he's with Lily's relatives. 

"Petunia? You put my little boy with that hag?" James scoffed and rolled his eyes. He suddenly noticed that Snape was standing near a few feet away from his bed, glaring at him. 

"Was it your idea, Snivellous? I bet you liked that, some wizard-hating bitch raising my son." He saw Promfrey flinch at his tone and words. Professor McGonagall shook her head at him. He closed his eyes, he was failing this test. He needed to convince them that he was well, so that they could bring Harry to him. 

"Anyways," he spoke slowly, trying to calm himself down. "What is he doing here?"

"Professor Snape works at the school now, James. He's been a great help in making the potions to help you get better," Dumbledore said smoothly. 

'He's been drugging you, James. We have to find Harry.' Again, the female voice echoed in his ears. He clenched his fist, so he didn't start looking for its source. 

"Where's my son? You said he'd be here when I'd wake up. Where is he?"

Silence. Dumbledore looked apologetic. "We need to run some more tests, James. We need to look after Harry, make sure he's safe."

'They think you might hurt Harry, our little Harry.'

"He's safer with me than with that spiteful magic hating Petunia. You know what's the last thing she said to me? She said I hope you and my good for nothing sister die. And guess what happened? Huh? What happened? We did die! And my little boy is with her! Bring him to me, I need to see him!" He couldn't control himself anymore. He thrashed around, suddenly ropes were trying him to the bed. He almost dislocated his shoulders, trying to get free. 

"James, James! Calm down!" Promfrey said.

"Let me go! I need to go and find him!" 

"Pro-- Dumbledore, I can't hold the spell for much longer. He's too strong!" James surged violently towards Snape's strained voice. 

"Let go of me, you son of a bitch! You always wanted Lily, you were jealous of me!" James laughed and laughed as the people around him tried to calm him down and press him onto the bed. 

"Promfrey, give him a calming draught!" He heard Dumbledore shout.

James continued, "But who could love an ugly little worm like you?"

That greasy head of hair leaned down. The low silky voiced hissed near his ear,"I hope you never recover your sanity! That you stay like this, a raving lunatic!" 

It was the opening James was waiting for. With Snape's concentration briefly split, James felt a slag in the ropes. He pushed forward, smacking his forehead against Snape's nose, who hadn't managed to pull away fast enough.

James felt power surge throughout his body, and he mentally released it. The people around him were flung back by an unseen force, leaving James free to get up and run as fast as he could towards the hospital wing's exit. 

Harry! I'm coming for you! He thought happily.

We are coming for you, the female voice sweetly reminded him. 

He stumbled as he rounded a corner, a feeling of dread invading his body at the thought. Because of this lapse, a spell hit on him on his back and he knew no more once again.


End file.
